Stabler was looking at a picture in the middle of the mess hall. Emma only spotted him out of pure luck, and when she slid in next to him he didn't so much as look up at her. He was smiling, his face light and bright. He set the picture down and she glanced down.

A house.

"Dreaming about what could have been?" she asked him. He looked up at her, and he still looked overjoyed, as though no one on earth could take away whatever feeling he had brewing in his chest.

"No. What's going to be."

What a curious thing to say. She looked back down at the picture and up at him, squinting. Trying to figure him out.

"You're moving," she stated, and she smiled a little before nudging him. "What, transferring units when we get out?"

A shadow crossed his face, but he smiled shortly after.

"No. I'm getting out. My contracts coming up."

"You ain't re-uping?" She was surprised. Out of all the people that she would have assumed would sign the dotted line without a second thought, Stabler was the first on the last. He was gung ho, far more gung ho than most of their unit. He had his doubts, she knew that, but she also knew that he was happy for what had been given to him.

"I have a family to think about. There's a fire station not five blocks away, and they give preference to people like me. We can get away from the hustle and bustle. We can finally focus on being a family."

It was strange to her. This was her family. It was the closest she had ever gotten. And the idea of Stabler not being there to run their morning PT sessions made her more than a little upset. She wouldn't show it, of course. She wouldn't let him know he'd gotten under her skin.

"Wife finally pregnant?"

"No. But we can focus on that, too, when I get back. I'll be back where I need to be. " He gave her a look. "You'll be fine, Swan. You're a fine soldier."

A smile in his direction.

"You'll be a fine father."

Fading out, waking up. Being back in reality was always a pain after dreams like that, but it was one she learned to deal with.

That had been a mere week before the tests had come back, the result of you're pregnant on the paper. An official statement. Stabler looking at her with sad, tired eyes. Trying to help and succeeding.

Many times she'd remember this conversation and she'd wonder about his wife. Whether she'd moved on. It had been years ago, Emma realized. If she'd been allowed to stay in the Army and hadn't died in combat, she would have been an E-5 at least by now. Certainly Stablers family had moved on. Certainly they were okay. Perhaps they were even living in that new house.

Her eyes drifted across the room, only to land on Regina. She had pulled a chair up and was reading, a sort of déjà vu from the hospital. She noticed Emma looking at her and peaked her head up, smiling.

"I didn't want to wake you. You looked peaceful."

She stretched slightly, and suddenly felt the weight on her. Henry had fallen asleep and somehow drifted into her lap, snoring loudly. There wasn't going to be much moving, she guessed.

"He sleeps like a rock. I can move him, if you wish."

She almost said no, because she didn't want to risk disturbing the kid, but the urge to stretch became more powerful by the minute. She nodded slowly and Regina got up, moving him so that his head rested besides Emma's leg. Emma got up, testing every muscle as she did.

"How long have you been home?"

"About an hour. Grahm didn't need as much direction as I'd thought."

Emma glanced at the clock, which read 1:35 pm.

"Have to go to work?"

"I'm off. But I can go."

The reaction from Regina earlier this morning had certainly been brought up to mind, how quickly she'd wanted to dismiss Emma. Emma would rather not come across that again. It had terrified her, to an extent. Not because she was afraid of Regina but because she found that she didn't want to be pushed away.

At the same time, she'd rather not push back.

"Stay for dinner. I'm certain Henry would love the company."

Such a quick change. As though a switch had been hit in Regina's head. From angry and almost bitter to soft spoken.

"You sure? I can just go home, if it's too much."

"Stay," Regina stated, and if Emma didn't know any better she could have sworn that Regina had purred.

Emma glanced at the TV, which had been switched off. Regina must have seen it and been quick to shut it off. They'd taken out the disk, at least, so Henry would be spared from trouble for another day.

Regina moved up, gesturing for Emma to follow her. There would have been hesitation at any other time, but it was as though Regina beckoned for her, as though she had a call specifically matched for Emma's response. Her hips moved fluidly, her steps careful but confident, and Emma felt trapped.

She didn't think she'd ever felt so good trapped.

Emma didn't move nearly as gracefully following her, but then she didn't have anyone to beckon. She slid her hands into her pockets and moved, following Regina into the kitchen and sitting down at the bar stool.

"Anything to drink, dear?"

"Waters good…"

And even as she did that, she seemed to call for Emma. Emma couldn't keep her eyes off the woman, and only managed to tear away when Regina had turned to face her, leaning over the table and sliding the drink at her. She moved to sit next to Emma, and still she found it was hard to keep her eyes to herself.

"I hope my son didn't annoy you too much. He's a bit much at times."

"He was fine. He was good. We had a nice conversation."

Regina raised a brow.

"And then watched Lion King?"

Oh, that damned trickster. Play something his mother would no doubt disagree with and then put in an innocent movie. He almost reminded Emma of herself at that age.

"Yeah."

Regina took a sip of her own drink and leaned back, studying Emma carefully.

"May I ask what you conversed about?"

Emma didn't know if she should reveal that much, but then, Regina was Henry's mother. She couldn't keep things from her, even if she felt like perhaps she should.

"He wanted to know about my time in the Army…" A flash in Regina's eyes. "I think…I think it helped him some. I didn't talk about any of the bad stuff, really. I just mentioned I was in and he said his dad had been too."

"He's never brought much interest into the subject before," Regina mused, and there was a faraway look in her eyes. "He used to play soldier, a long time ago. But it faded away. Age does that, I suppose."

Emma nodded, looking back down at her glass. Such fine glassware for such a small occasion. She wondered if Regina had anything small in her house at all.

"How long were you in?" Regina asked, casting her a glance.

"Two years." A strange look. "I got…I got kicked out."

This was a woman who no doubt knew more about the military than many that had not been in. And it wasn't exactly uncommon knowledge that getting kicked out was hard. Four year contracts were the norm, and those who tried to get kicked out were often unsuccessful.

"May I ask why?"

Emma didn't know if she was allowed to ask that, she didn't know if Regina had a right in knowing. Still, she couldn't keep it a secret forever. It would get out eventually. Small town gossip and what not.

"Fraternizing."

She nodded slowly.

"That's a shame."

"I guess."

She met Regina's eyes, and what she thought she'd see was judgment. She thought for sure that Regina would be looking at her with disgust. Wherever her husband had been on the food chain, it didn't matter. She knew what that could mean, and Emma didn't feel like elaborating. But no. There was no judgment. Not even pity. Just silent contemplation.

"Gonna tell me to get out?" Emma asked nervously.

"Why on earth would I do that?"

Because it wasn't a good thing. And getting kicked out, leaving her unit, was not a good thing. Especially admitting it to the wife of someone who had died over there.

"Because I got out." And he didn't. Your husband didn't.

"Miss Swan. If I spent every waking moment hating every Soldier, Airman, Marine or Sailor that got back, I would have much more hate in my heart than what it could hold."

"But I'm in front of you."

"Yes. But you had nothing to do with what happened to him. You didn't even know him. I won't waste my breath on hating you. I don't have enough breaths."

Emma let out a sigh that she didn't know she'd been holding in, taking a full look of Regina again.

"Can I ask you something?"

Regina hummed in response, and Emma didn't know if that was the go ahead signal or the shut up one. But she dove in anyways.

"What's between us? Right now?"

"That was a quick subject change, Miss Swan."

"I'm serious. One night we're sleeping in the same bed and drinking and the next you're angry. And then you want me to stay for dinner? I just…I can't figure you out."

Regina leaned forward, and Emma almost thought she was going to get yelled at again. Instead, Regina touched her forehead to hers and pulled back.

"Perhaps that's why I'm letting you stick around. To figure me out. And to decide whether I'm worth it."

And there it was, a grain of truth in what felt like a tangle of confusion. It was a test of sorts, Emma realized, and just as quickly as she understood that she also understood that she'd passed.

One test, she'd passed. One. She wondered how many others there would be.

"Why is this so damned difficult?"

"Because we're making it so. I'm afraid, Miss Swan, that that's a part of being human."

Emma didn't know if she wanted that. She didn't want to play games. She didn't even know what she was playing for at this point. But she also knew that whatever had happened between the last couple of months, however these two had managed to bury themselves into her heart, that she couldn't possibly stop it.

The game was much more difficult than Emma liked.

"Can't we just be animals?"

Regina teased a smile.

"Oh, Miss Swan. That's the beautify of it. We are."

Animals playing in a den. Animals hunting and killing to stay alive. Animals breeding and animals taking care of their young. Acting on instinct.

That's all they were.

It was just a different jungle.